Liberosis - The Hunger Games

22

Chapter 22

The loudspeaker cut off and I was left with nothing but the sound of the environment. The thundering of the waterfall clouded my ears as I left the knife in my hand drop to the ground. I was too shocked to scream, too numb to cry.

The birds fell silent as the wind picked up, a hovercraft floating into the clearing. I stumbled through the meadow, noticing the red trail I left behind me as I walked. In the reflective glass, I caught sight of my reflection. I was a lot thinner than I was when I had entered the games. Almost skeletal, my cheekbones were very prominent underneath the blood covering my face. The braid that was once in my hair had fallen out during the fight, resulting in a matted mess dangling over my shoulders. Most frightening was the blood covering the entire upper half of my body.

I look insane, somewhat feral. The hovercraft doors opened welcoming me to Blaze who was holding a large blanket and a soft smile. He tried to wrap the fabric around my shoulders, but I shrugged him off in dismissal. "Thorn," my voice cracked as I spoke.

"I know," Blaze whispered back, sitting beside me, "Rest," he instructed me, patting his lap which I gladly laid my head in, closing my eyes.

I did not sleep during the trip, instead, I watched everything over in my head. The sound of the cannon played continuously on my ears as the hovercraft came into landing. The blood covering my body was slowly drying into the crevices of my face, the red liquid dripped from my matted hair as Blaze led me out of the hovercraft.

Gaia was waiting for me alongside the rest of my prep team who stared at me in complete shock. "Oh, my darling what have they done to you?" Gaia whispered, more to herself than anybody else. She stepped forward gracefully, cupping both sides of my face. Sylvia stood beside her, one hand covering her mouth. "Get her cleaned up," She told my prep team.

Blaze's hand found the small of my back, but I halted myself, eyes' train on the ground, "Finnick, I want to see him,"

Sylvia clearly did not have the energy to argue, "I'll send him in when I find him," She nodded, "It's almost over now, Aurora, you're going home,"

Yes, I was going home, but I would never stop coming back to this awful place, I would become a trainer, every year I would return with two children and I would watch them die. The games were far from over for me, I had seen what happened to other tributes, the publicity that would eternally follow them around. The games would never leave me, neither would the flashes in my head.

"We'll let you bathe yourself, there's some food in there as well," Venus told me, her hair now a brilliant lavender, "You have two hours and then the real work will begin," She explained. Titan sent me a small smile as the pair of them wandered into one of the prep rooms.

Blaze sent me a sympathetic look, "I'll be in the room over, just call out if you need me," He smiled, squeezing my hand, "I'm so glad you're safe,"

I'm not.

I sent a small smile in his direction closing the door, I felt my knees buckling and I leaned against the wall for support sliding to the floor with a soft cry. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, trying desperately to keep myself from breaking to pieces. Two voices emerged from the other side of the wall, hushed, but just loud enough to hear.

"And you promise me if I stay-" It was Finnick's voice, but it sounded harsh, emotionless.

"I won't lay a finger, Mr Odair, you have my word." The second voice was dull, lifeless yet still cutting to listen to.

"Thankyou, President Snow," Finnick responded. I heard the door of the room creak open to see Finnick. After what felt like such a long time, here he was. He looked as though he had been crying, dark bags were forming underneath his eyes, his lips were cracked and dry, parted in shock. "Aurora," He breathed, breaking the silence, I choked back as sob as he tackled me into a strong hug, cradling my head with his hands.